Home > ESMA calls for candidates to join its consultative working group on investor protection and intermediaries
August 1, 2012--ESMA has launched today a call for expressions of interest for its Consultative Working Group (CWG) for ESMA's Investor Protection and Intermediaries Standing Committee (IPISC).
CWG members are selected for a renewable term of two years. Appointments are done on a personal basis, and are bound by confidentiality requirements in relation to all non-public information they are provided with while performing their tasks.
IPISC undertakes ESMA’s work relating to the provision of investment services and activities by investment firms and credit institutions. Particular regard is made to investor protection, including the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) conduct of business and organisational requirements and their technical implementation, and the distribution of investment products.
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Source: ESMA
Europe's top banks feel pain from debt crisis
July 31, 2012--Europe's biggest banks on Tuesday took massive hits on their second-quarter profits as the eurozone debt crisis sliced into earnings and added to pressure to boost their capital defences.
In Germany, the biggest lender Deutsche Bank said it would axe 1,900 jobs as the crisis slashed its bottom-line profit nearly in half in the period from April to June.
In neighbouring Switzerland, giant UBS blamed a 58-percent slump in second-quarter net profit on lower trading and services revenues while operating costs rose.
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Source: EUbusiness
ETF guidelines will see investors reclaim securities lending profits
July 31, 2012--The guidelines released by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) last week will help exchange-traded fund (ETF) providers who have chosen physical replication to adapt their business model and will lead to greater transparency among funds, according to the EDHEC-Risk Institute.
In a statement, the institute said it welcomed the guidelines, which also touched on issues relating to UCITS, released on 25 July by ESMA, which indicated that all profits from securities lending should be returned to the fund.
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Source: IP&E
Boerse Stuttgart welcomes draft law to control high-frequency trading
Precise definitions needed for different investor groups
July 31, 2012--Dr Christoph Boschan, Managing Director of the Stuttgart Stock Exchange, described the official draft of Germany's proposed high-frequency trading law' published today by the Federal Ministry of Finance,
as a ‘very useful initiative from the perspective of a stock exchange that focuses on private investors’. Boerse Stuttgart is pleased to note that the supervisory body’s powers are to be extended and the obligations of trading platforms and participants are specified. ‘Overall, we see this as confirmation of our own efforts in the area of self-regulation in favour of private investors. In Stuttgart we have had a restrictive approach to high-frequency trading for some time. Furthermore, it is in the interest of all financial market stakeholders that we create greater legal certainty in terms of the way we deal with high-frequency traders,’ observed Dr Boschan.
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Source: Boerse Stuttgart
SIX Swiss Exchange: the world's fastest exchange
100 days after the introduction of X-stream INET, latency measurements confirm that SIX Swiss Exchange currently runs the fastest trading platform.
August 1, 2012--On 23 April 2012, SIX Swiss Exchange introduced X-stream INET, the world's most advanced trading technology for equities.
After the successful launch, the SWXess trading platform has now been running smoothly for a 100 days and the announced average roundtrip latency of just 37 microseconds has been confirmed under production load.
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Source: SIX Swiss Exchange
More Transparency and Protection for Investors: EU Issues Guidelines on ETFs, Other UCITS Issues
July 31, 2012--On 25 July the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published Guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS issues, following two consultations on ETF-related issues (to which CFA Institute responded) and considerable work on the subject.
ESMA also launched a short consultation on the treatment of repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements (included in Annex IV of the Guidelines document).
The most important changes in ESMA’s proposals pertain to collateral characteristics and disclosure, to securities lending and repos (enhanced disclosure), and to restrictions in the use of indices. New ETF-specific rules are introduced as well.
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Source: Market Integrity Insight
Dutch regulator stands by its ETF advice
July 31, 2012--The Dutch financial markets regulator (AFM) said on Tuesday that it would stand by its own recommendations on index tracking financial products while also welcoming the publication last week of new guidelines on exchange traded funds and other Ucits by the European Securities Markets Authority.
The AFM said there was “no conflict” between its recommendations, which were published in June, and Esma’s new guidelines
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Source: FT.com
DB - Equity Research-Weekly European ETF Market Monitor
July 31, 2012--Attached is the most recent issue of the Weekly European ETF Market Monitor. The report includes key statistics on the European ETF market as well as global ETF market highlights. For more detailed coverage please refer to the monthly report, issued in the first week following the end of each month.
The following link will be available for 90 days. For more information, please click on the link for the full PDF. If you have any trouble viewing the link, copy and paste the link in a browser.
http://pull.db-gmresearch.com/p/593-BAF0/8087620/ETF_Research_-_Weekly_European_ETF_Market_Monitor.pdf
Source: Christos Costandinides, European Head of ETF Research & Strategy, Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank axes 1,900 jobs in EUR 3.0bn cost-cut drive
July 31, 2012-- Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest lender, said Tuesday it planned to slash 1,900 jobs, mainly outside Germany, as part of a 3.0-billion-euro ($3.7-billion) cost-cutting programme.
In view of the current difficult environment, where the long-running debt crisis cut Deutsche Bank's profit nearly in half in the second quarter, the group said it would "reduce headcount predominantly outside of Germany by approximately 1,900 positions."
Of those, 1,500 would be axed in the bank's corporate banking and securities division, it said in a statement.
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Source: EUbusiness
EMIR - Information on the deadline for joint draft regulatory technical standards on risk mitigation techniques for OTC derivatives contracts not cleared by a CCP
July 30, 2012--On 7 June 2012, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) addressed a request to the European Commission for a postponement of the deadline for the submission of the joint draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on risk mitigation techniques for OTC derivatives contracts not cleared by a CCP (mainly related to margins for bilateral transactions).
The rationale behind the request is to enable consistency of the European rules with the on-going global development of international standards by the Working Group on Margining Requirements of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which are expected to be delivered by end 2012.
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Source: ESMA
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